HORROR & FIRE – it must be Spring in the Cities

April 19, 2017

DEAD BY DAWN

Scary Movie 3 just not, um, scary enough for you? Then try sitting through a screening or two during the Dead by Dawn film festival. It returns to Filmhouse with a tempting line-up of dark delights guaranteed to give you goose-bumps on your goose-bumps!

DBD thrives on wild and unique films that unsettle and disturb us…or maybe just make us laugh at very wrong things. The event promises to screen UK premiers, forgotten classics and short film programmes stuffed full of dark and devious bite-size nightmares – deliciously twisted, hilarious, creepy and wicked, these are films guaranteed to thrill and chill!..

Dead by Dawn takes place from April 20-23rd at the Filmhouse Cinema, Edinburgh.

BELTANE FIRE FESTIVAL

Whilst the simultaneous sparking of a few thousand Swan Vestas matches wouldn’t generally be encouraged in our major cities, the Beltane Fire Festival shows how such a spectacular flame show can be enjoyed responsibly.

The 30th re-imagining of the ancient Celtic festival of Beltane will mark the changing seasons with “a wild mix of drums, fire and physical theatre on a scale not seen anywhere else in the world”. That’s the official line by the way! Expect to look on in awe as the May Queen and Green Man lead a cavalcade of characters in a procession which culminates in the lighting of a bonfire to signify the inception of summer. Oooh, warm glows.

The Beltane Fire Festival takes place on April 30th on Calton Hill. Tickets from £8.

CIRCUS OF HORRORS

What started life as a humble yet stomach-churning sideshow at Glastonbury has become a despicable cult epic in its own right. But in a good way. The latest incarnation of the tour is rather chillingly titled ‘The Never Ending Nightmare’ and rolls into town on April 24.

You should expect some nudity and ‘adult’ language, while the show’s organisers remind you that the production is “not suitable for children, people of a nervous disposition, chavs and sissies”.
You have been warned!
Circus of Horrors plays the King’s Theatre on April 24th. Tickets start at £14.75.